Have you ever wondered when the first car accident occurred?
While no one wants to experience such an event, curiosity often leads us to ask this question to understand when it all began.
A century ago, cars and technology were far from the advanced systems we have today, with innovations like artificial intelligence and electric vehicles shaping modern transportation.
Let’s start from day one, when the first accident happened.
The First Recorded Automobile Accident
The available data shows that the first accident that is noted took place on August 31, 1869, in Parsonstown, Ireland. The Anglo-Irish scientist named Mary Ward, became the first person to lose her life in a car accident. So the answer to our question is the year 1869. Back then people were driving steam powered cars and the tragedy occured when the woman fell under its wheels, and with that provide a warning of the dangers that were associated with “the new invention” back in those days.
The First Car Accident in the United States
If we talk about the United States, the first car crash happened in 1891 in Ohio. People that were involved in the car accident were James Lambert as a driver, and James Swoveland as a passenger. Lambert lost control over his gasoline-powered vehicle and hit a tree root that caused the vehicle to collide with a post. Both Lambert and the passenger had minor injuries. Although these incident was not fatal, it was again a question about the challenges that lie under creating the first car designs and the dirt road conditions.
The First Fatal Car Accident in the United States
In 1899, Henry H. Bliss was the first recorded instance of a person being killed in a motor vehicle collision. He is the first pedestrian that was hit by a car. It all occured on the streets of New York City, when the 69-year-old local real estate dealer were hit by a taxi cab. This is the first case of a pedestrian being at a risk of a vehicle. These opened the questions about the safety on the roads, mostly because the number of vehicles on the streets increased.
Conclusion
Althought all of these happened in the past century, all of these situations were really important into shaping the evolution of the safety in the transportation.
A huge disasters some times give the right path to eliminating a similar situation to happened again. This can be applied to the automotive world.
As the number of cars, and vehicles are increasing year by year with the innovations like the seat belts, traffic signals, most secured cars, people managed to increase the safety.